Zutara Week 2009 Rhythm
by discobiscuit92
Summary: Written for Zutara Week. Katara crawls into bed with Zuko one night while the Gaang is camping out. What happens next?


Katara was cold. The warm sea breeze of the day had cooled and blew incessantly through the walls of her tent. She shivered. She had been warm earlier, but that was due to the drink. Some fancy fire nation brew. She was still feeling its effects, but the warmth it brought was gone. She laughed again to herself as she thought about what Sokka had said.

_Katara bent down to inspect his shoes, losing her balance a little but managing to catch herself._

"_The souls are wearing thin Sokka." She declared as if it were the most important statement she had ever made._

_The gaang laughed. They were all a little tipsy, but Katara had had one shot too many._

_She whirled around to face the rest of the group with a no-nonsense glare. "Don't laugh at me you smarty pantses. Shoes are very important." _

_Most of the gaang looked a little intimidated. Haru's mustache twitched. Drunk Katara was even more bossy than regular Katara..._

_But Sokka just smiled. "Man Katara, alcohol only makes you more of who you are." And everyone laughed again, because it was true._

_Katara thought this was funnier than anyone else, twirling around in a circle before toppling unceremoniously to the ground, clutching her sides and trying to catch her breath between fits of giggles. This had really been just what she needed to unwind._

Katara rolled over in her sleeping bag again, trying to maximize its warmth factor, but it was no use. She sat up quickly, but then slowly laid back down, feeling very dizzy. Slowly this time, she sat up in her sleeping bag. She wanted to get warm. In her current state, somewhere between piss drunk and very hungover, she devised a plan that, at the time, seemed pure genius.

She quietly crept out of her tent and made her way to Zuko's.

"_Ok Katara, I think you've had enough." Zuko said as he gently pried her fingers from around the loosely capped bottle. "Here, let me help you to your tent." Zuko made to pick her up but she stopped him._

"_I'm a big girl Zuko, I can walk to my own tent." Katara said saucily. Everyone but Zuko, who just looked awkward, burst into hysterics. Katara staggered a few steps towards her tent before stumbling. _

_Zuko was there to catch her before she fell. He slung her arm around his shoulder and walked her the rest of the way._

_Upon reaching her tent, he tangled his hand in her hair. "Goodnight" he said quietly, before turning and walking towards his own tent._

His hand had been so warm on her neck.

Katara quickly found Zuko's tent. She slid the flap open and ducked down to step inside. The moon shone through the door flaps and Katara could clearly see where Zuko laid. She got on her hands and knees, crawled to the opening of his sleeping bag and got in. She practically purred at the warmth. Leave it to the fire bender to have a high natural body temperature. Katara spooned her back against his chest, loving the warm feeling. Zuko, who was pleasantly shirtless, shifted in his sleep, draping his arm over her body. Katara snuggled closer. She drifted off quickly, lulled by the steady rhythm of his breathing and heartbeat.

Zuko woke at sunrise. He was somewhat surprised to find Katara in his sleeping bag with him but decided to try and stay still for at least a little longer to let her get some sleep. Zuko was not feeling hungover, but he knew she would be and wanted to prolong having to face that sure-to-be catastrophe as long as he could.

Aside from surprise, he was feeling a bit excited. He couldn't help it. On top of it being morning, Zuko was quite unused to waking up with a woman in his bed and a warm back pressed against his chest. He shuddered.

He took the hand that had been wrapped around her and began playing with her hair, remembering how it had felt the night before when he stuck his hand in it on an impulse. He liked it much better now that she wore it down. The texture was so foreign, coarse but still soft. He brought his hand down to her bare shoulder and ran it down her arm gently, feeling her smooth skin as if it was something he did every morning when he woke up.

Only then did he wonder _why_ Katara was in his bed. He couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation and supposed that now was as good a time as any to get one. As much as he dreaded her guaranteed bad mood, he dreaded the thought of Sokka finding them sleeping together quite a bit more.

He propped up on his elbow. "Katara" he whispered, nudging her a little. She groaned. "Katara, what are you doing in my tent?"

No response. He nudged her again and scooted back a bit so he had more room to try and wake her.

Katara turned in her half-asleep state and wrapped her arms around Zuko's waist. "Warm" she mumbled, nuzzling her face into his abdomen.

Zuko was quite tempted to smack himself in the face. She had been cold, that was all. Now trapped by her arms around his middle, he sighed in exasperation and fought the fleeting urge to lean down and kiss her forehead. For some reason, he thought of the word 'endearing'. He lay back down and put his arms around her, pulling her closer to his warm body. What else was there to do? She sighed happily.

Several hours later, probably around 11 or so, he heard some people moving about the camp. Zuko extricated himself from her embrace, trying to think of a way to keep the present situation from ending badly. What would he say when a thoroughly mused looking Katara who had clearly been drunk the night before stumbled out of his tent? He didn't think Sokka would buy 'Well gee, she was just wanted to get warmed up!' Not only did that sound suggestive anyways, but Katara was from the south pole for crap's sake. What did she need him for? She had her warm snuggly parka-thingy.

Zuko made his way to the fire pit just in time to hear someone say "go wake Katara, I'm starved."

"I've just checked on Katara. She's really not feeling well and said she was going to stay in her tent for a while." He lied smoothly. "I guess she knocked back a few too many last night. I'll make breakfast."

And so he did.

Katara slept past lunch. She did not come out of the tent for the rest of the day, and while experiencing nausea and boredom, trapped in Zuko's tent, vowed that she would never drink again. Fun was overrated, in her newfound opinion.

Zuko excused himself after finishing his dinner and walked back to his tent. There he found Katara sitting on his bedroll.

"Well hello there sleeping beauty."

"Ugh, don't call me that. I'm sure I look a mess."

"And here I thought you understood my good sarcastic sense of humor." Zuko grinned and Katara grimaced.

"Sorry for crawling in with you last night. It made sense at the time."

He shrugged and sat down.

Katara looked at the tent wall. "Does Sokka..."

Zuko cut her off. "No, I told everyone you were feeling sick and would be staying in your tent for a while."

Katara looked very relieved. "I guess everyone got a kick out of seeing me a little tipsy."

Zuko tried very hard not to burst out laughing. He smiled crookedly instead "A little tipsy? Katara, you went beyond tipsy."

"Ok, well still, I don't think I behaved too stupidly. Some people here act like that all the time. They can't even put their clothes out for washing! How silly is that? I have to go and collect them."

Zuko grinned. "Very silly indeed."

Katara sensed it was time to go back to her own tent. She stood up to leave. "Thank you for being so nice about this."

"Of course Katara"

As Katara lay down in her own tent, she found that sleep eluded her. It was not as cool as the previous night, but for some reason she was not comfortable. After laying in bed for what seemed like hours, she noticed what was missing. The rhythm that had played in her head all day long. The steady beat of Zuko's heart and his slow, soft breathing. Her heart wrenched at the thought. Bed hopping with Zuko while drunk and cold was one thing, but it was entirely another while sober and longing.

She grit her teeth and laid in bed for a while longer, telling herself she was _not_ wanting to lie in bed with Zuko just because she liked it.

But in the end, she knew she it was true.

Katara made her way to Zuko's tent and crawled into his sleeping bag. He stirred as she snuggled into his chest. He was suddenly very awake.

"Katara?"

Damn. She had been caught. "Yes Zuko?" She answered very sweetly.

He hesitated. "Are you cold again? Maybe we should find you another blanket."

Katara sighed. Might as well explain. Or try to anyways. "No, I just need your rhythm."

Zuko wasn't sure of what she was talking about, but let the subject drop and simply enjoyed having her in his arms again for the night. As he drifted he idly wondered if she would come back tomorrow.

Hope can be a dangerous thing.


End file.
